Purification and biochemical properties of a cytochrome bc complex from the aerobic hyperthermophilic archaeon Aeropyrum pernix

Background The bioenergetics of Archaea with respect to the evolution of electron transfer systems is very interesting. In contrast to terminal oxidases, a canonical bc1 complex has not yet been isolated from Archaea. In particular, c-type cytochromes have been reported only for a limited number of species.